Why it works: Carrot and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,173 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓
Amber Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Brown the meat
Cut the meat into strips and place in a soup pot with butter.
Let it heat slowly for 30 minutes.
Set the pot over the fire and stir until the meat is glazed with a brownish crust.
Add 1 quart of cold water and bring gradually to a boil.
Fry the onion and carrot in dripping until browned.
Drain off the fat and add to the pot once the meat is boiling.
Cook for 30 minutes.
Simmer the soup
Add the remaining cold water, minced ham, and broken veal bones.
Boil slowly for 4 hours.
Strain the soup.
Put the meat and bones in a stone vessel and pour half the soup over them for tomorrow.
Return the rest of the soup to the kettle, season, and bring to a boil.
Clarify and serve
Skim carefully.
Add the white and shell of an egg.
Boil for 3 minutes.
Remove from heat and pour into bowls.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together10,173 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
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Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together16,012 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Carrot + peppertop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,555 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together21,601 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,092 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Lean beef
- Browned and simmered to release its flavour and body into the broth.
- Veal bones
- Release gelatin during long simmering, giving the soup body and a richer mouthfeel.
- Onions
- Browning them adds sweetness and deep colour to the broth.
- Butter
- Fat that carries heat into the meat and helps it brown.
- Egg white and shell (in the method)
- Coagulate as they heat, trapping fine particles so the soup clears.
The step that matters
Skim carefully. Fat and fine particles rise to the surface as the soup simmers. Removing them before the egg clarification keeps the broth clear and free of greasy film.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, ham, veal, carrot, butter, celery, pepper):
- Tomatofits about as well
- Onionthe original
- Leekfits about as well
- Potatofits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, ham, veal, carrot, butter, celery, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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